While ethical investing may mean different things to different people, don’t you agree that financial firms should draw the line at helping to support genocide? Help change the status quo on Wall Street. Together we can end investments in genocide.

Vanguard

Many financial institutions invest in a handful of foreign oil companies, such as PetroChina, that help fund the government of Sudan’s deadly campaign of violence against millions of its citizens. With over a billion-dollar stake, Vanguard is one of PetroChina’s largest investors.

In July 2009, despite Vanguard’s active opposition, shareholders of 21 Vanguard funds voted in support of the proposal with votes ranging from 7% to 17% in favor of genocide-free investing.

Results at the Vanguard shareholder meeting were lower than those in 2008 and 2009 at Fidelity, which ranged from 17% to 31%. Investors Against Genocide attributes the lower results to Vanguard’s statement of opposition which contended that the genocide-free investing proposal called for procedures that “duplicate” existing practices and were “substantially identical” to existing procedures of the Vanguard funds.

However, Vanguard’s “substantially identical” policy has not resulted in the sale of any of the large oil companies with ties to genocide. Rather, Vanguard’s Plain Talk About Proxy Proposal 3 web page states that “the trustees have determined that no companies have warranted divestment.”

Since the shareholder vote, Vanguard has continued to hold and purchase additional shares of PetroChina and Sinopec, oil companies tied to the genocide in Sudan.